This disclosure relates to wireless communications and, in particular, to parental control over wireless voice communications.
The instant access to global communications afforded by wireless networking has been shown to have almost immeasurable value. The technologies that allow people to access enormous amounts of information and to communicate instantly with others, though, can easily be misused. For example, it is of particular concern that children not be permitted access to adult-oriented Internet sites, and, conversely, untrustworthy adults should not be permitted to contact children over such networks. Moreover, even when children's use of network resources is proper, it can be excessive, as children are known to incur excessive connection charges, often paid by their parents.
Numerous efforts have been made to restrict children's access to various network resources. For example, software programs and proxy servers have been used to limit both the scope and duration of children's access to the Web. Child-specific mobile telephones, such as the TicTalk™ or the Firefly®, similarly allow parents to impose limitations as to who children are permitted to speak with, and for how long.
Many innovations have been made using network protocols used for voice communications. For example, voice communications may be carried using a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), wherein voice communications are digitized, packetized, and sent over the Internet and/or a LAN (Local Area Network). Such communications may be set up through the use of the session initiation protocol (SIP). SIP proxy servers are available to provide client registration, authentication, and administration for VoIP endpoints. One such proxy server is the SIP-50 proxy server offered by Planet Networking & Communication.
Various network topographies have been explored for voice and data communications. For example, it has been proposed that such communications may be carried over a mesh or ad-hoc network. In such networks, data packets are wirelessly routed from node to node in a mesh. This enables nodes within the mesh to communicate with one another. Because individual nodes can act as repeaters for other nodes in the mesh, two nodes may be in communication with one another even if they are out of range of direct radio frequency (RF) communications. If one or more of the nodes in the mesh has access to an outside network, such as a public switched telephone network (PTSN) or the Internet, other nodes in the mesh may also communicate with the outside network, using the node to relay communications to and from the outside network.
Telephonic voice communications are often carried out with the use of a wireless hands-free headset. In the operation of such a headset, a user's mobile station establishes short-range wireless communications with the headset using a personal area network (PAN) protocol such as Bluetooth. Voice communications are carried wirelessly between the facilities of a telecommunications service provider and the mobile station using a wireless telecommunications protocol such as, for example, CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) or GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). The mobile station relays these voice communications to a nearby headset, which includes audio transducers through which audible speech is digitized and played back.
Telecommunications equipment providers have envisioned the use of a “personal phone hub” or “personal mobile gateway” (PMG). Such a gateway serves as a single point of contact between an individual and a wireless telecommunications network. When an individual is equipped with compatible accessory nodes, such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or telephone handset or headset, the accessory nodes communicate with the wireless telecommunications network through the gateway. In this way, the compatible accessories can expend only a small amount of power communicating with the nearby gateway, rather than the larger amount of power that would be necessary to communicate directly with, for example, a more distant base transceiver station (BTS) of a wireless telecommunications network.
One partial implementation of the personal mobile gateway concept is the use of a Bluetooth-enabled mobile telephone to serve as a “wireless modem” to provide an Internet connection for a nearby Bluetooth-enabled laptop computer. To avoid unauthorized use of one's mobile telephone to establish an Internet connection, the mobile telephone generally prompts its user for authorization to accept such a connection.
In this rapidly-advancing world of wireless communications, it is expected to become ever more difficult for parents to protect and exercise control over their children who have access to such communications.